Bill Gates reclaims top of Forbes billionaire list from Slim

March 3 | By Jonathan Stempel

March 3 (Reuters) - Bill Gates has returned to the top of
Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people, as
rising stock markets swelled the ranks of billionaires, which
included a record number of women.

With a net worth of $76 billion, the Microsoft Corp
co-founder reclaimed the top spot after a four-year hiatus,
toppling Mexico's telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who
placed second at $72 billion, Forbes said in announcing the list
on Monday.

Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of clothing conglomerate
Inditex SA, which includes the Zara fashion chain,
ranked third at $64 billion.

Investing icon Warren Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway
Inc and is a frequent bridge partner for Gates, was
fourth at $58.2 billion. Oracle Corp chief Larry
Ellison came in fifth at $48 billion.

Gates has topped the list in 15 of the last 20 years.

A record 1,645 billionaires with a total net worth of $6.4
trillion made Forbes' list, up from 1,426 last year.

Just over 10 percent were female, with 172 women compared
with 138 a year earlier.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc heiress Christy Walton was the
highest-ranking woman, in ninth place, at $36.7 billion.
France's Liliane Bettencourt, who got much of her wealth from
cosmetics company L'Oreal SA, was next among women at
$34.5 billion, and ranked 11th overall.

The Internet was well-represented. Google Inc
founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ranked 17th and 19th, worth
a respective $32.3 billion and $31.8 billion, while Amazon.com
Inc's Jeff Bezos was between them at $32 billion.

Roughly two-thirds of the world's billionaires, or 1,080,
were self-made. The United States had the most billionaires,
with 492, followed by China at 152 and Russia at 111. Algeria,
Lithuania, Tanzania and Uganda joined the list with one each.